More than half of the Airtricity League’s clubs were profitable last year according the competition’s Fran Gavin who says that a combined surplus of €241,000 was produced in 2012, precisely the amount, as it happens, that was distributed in prize money.
The former PFAI general secretary, who was speaking at the launch yesterday of the 2013 league season, acknowledged that several clubs are still carrying very substantial debts. But he praised the way most clubs had adapted their finances to the new financial climate and, after years of sustained losses, started to balance the books with 11 said to have been profitable.
“There’s a huge amount of credit due to the clubs in the two divisions for the amount of work they have done in the last few years,” he said.
The league’s definition of “profitable” has been called into question before with clubs who have made substantial operating losses but had them covered by owners officially considered to be operating in the black.
Still, there has clearly been a significant improvement in the finances of most clubs with revenues stabilising after several years of dramatic declines and budgets coming under control again as a result.
Collective debt
“When we (the FAI) took over the league the collective debt to the revenue was €7 million so we’re now in a position where 11 clubs made a profit amounting to €241,000 which is to be welcomed. I know the likes of Bohemians have a thing with a loan they took out but day to day the club is run extremely well.
The amount of prize money will, he confirmed, be unchanged at €241,000, something he said, “the clubs are quite happy with”.
There are other constants too. The league will, for instance, kick off next week amid controversy over a game being moved for television while the uncertainty over the future shape of the senior club set up in Galway remains a concern.
Gavin defended the decision to move Limerick’s game against Cork City next weekend to Sunday afternoon on the basis that RTÉ had expressed a preference for the switch and “it’s important that we have a live game on that weekend”.
Clubs have complained that changed kick-off times combined with games being on television can cost them substantial numbers of paying customers but Gavin says is hoped the Thomond Park game will still attract more than 5,000 supporters.
Talks continuing
He said that talks are continuing with the league’s two Galway clubs over having the city represented by just one side at national level but denied that admitting Salthill Devon and Mervue United to the league had been an error.
“No, I think the clubs got there on merit,” he said, “so there’s no question from a sporting point of view that they deserve to be where they are but people in Galway see that the best thing for football in Galway is to have one club.”
Talks are ongoing with the intention to have an agreement in place in time for it to take effect next season.
